Saturday, April 6, 2013

Totally Tubular

Spring is trying to come to my neighbourhood. It snowed 3 days this week, but none of it stayed, so that is a start.

My dining room is doing better than outdoors.





I have 3 containers full of Forsythia, in bloom. It almost makes up for the dirty snow, still bordering the streets. It also means that if the snow every leaves, the bush will be lovely, with blossoms from top to bottom.

Since I started knitting socks in earnest, I have developed a taste for luxury yarns. The only problem is that they tend to come skeined, so I have to wind them into balls. Although I have a swift and a ball winder, I seem to let them pile up. Then I can't use them immediately, because they aren't wound, so I use something else. I decided the other day to do something about it. I think I have enough wound now to last a few months.




There is alpaca here, and silk, as well as some lovely merino. The ball that has been wound by hand was a skein that hadn't been done properly, and was tangled within the skein. This is the second one I have gotten from that company, with this problem, so I will be thinking twice about buying that brand again.

I finished my pink striped socks.
They are not perfectly identical twins, but so close that I don't have a problem with them. I think I am out by about 1 metre , and I can live with that. Finishing trumps perfectionism any day!



My new skill is tubular cast ons, in the round. These socks are my first use of this skill.
 I like the look, and it usually isn't hard. I have had a request for a pair of Birthday socks, from my principal sock consumer. Since his birthday is a month away, I cast them on last night. And ripped out the first try. This morning, with better light, I ripped out the second try.

Here is the third try. I think I got it right this time! The yarn is a silk and merino mix. It has a lovely hand, and is a grey and purple hand dye, with the improbably colour name of "Bright Lights, Big City, Busy Highway, Slow Unicorn". It suits the recipient.

Off to knit!



1 comment:

  1. Lovely cast on edge! Looks like you've got your sock knitting work cut out for you.

    ReplyDelete